On Fridays - Short Story

Literary Review, Fall, 2003 by Robert Raymer

My afternoon teaching English is shot. I can't concentrate--every face I see, male or female, regardless of the age or race, I see in it the Malay woman's almond-shaped eyes ... and those tears. If the telephone rings or the door opens, even though I know it can't be, I think it is her.

The following Friday I stand at the roadside and peer into each passing taxi, hoping to catch another glimpse of her. I find myself leaving earlier and earlier on Fridays so I can spend more time searching for this woman. More than once I have gone to the jetty, hoping to catch her there.

Whenever it rains, and I'm struggling to close my umbrella to get inside another taxi, I fully expect to see her in the back seat reading that letter. Oh, the disappointment that comes over me when I realize it is someone else, or no one at all.

One morning while running errands on Lebuh Pantai, I think I spot the Sikh who was in the front seat of the taxi that day. I hurry across the street to ask him if he knows anything about the woman, only to stop a few steps behind him. Why should he know anything more about her than me? He was just another passenger. Even if he did, surely he would have forgotten about it by now. Still I keep an eye out for the driver. Maybe he has picked her up more than once. Maybe he knows where she lives.

As the Fridays drift by, I desperately try to put her out of my mind. But every time it rains I think of her. Each passing taxi reminds me of her. Each time I hear that music I yearn for her, and realize how lonely I've become.

Now the woman dominates my paintings.

Initially she appeared only in the background, leaning against a tree, reading her letter. Her image gradually became larger and more focused, and the landscape I have set out to capture is relegated to being a mere backdrop, a way of showcasing this woman who could have been mine.

Robert Raymer (Penang, Malaysia) teaches creative writing at Universiti Sains Malaysia and has written four novels, published 26 short stories, and a collection of Malaysian-set stories, Lovers and Strangers.